How do you know if you have forgiven with your “whole” heart?
Anything less allows an open door in the spirit realm for tormentors to jail you!
The good thing about taking a test with God is that there are no failures, just retakes.
The test is short, and I do not believe in circling around a subject, so let us get started!
Answer Three Questions
1. Do you feel like you are owed an apology, or are you waiting for your offender to accept the blame and feel the shame?
If you answered “no”, you are on the right track; go to test question #2.
If you answered “yes”, you are operating with conditional forgiveness that comes with an “expectation” called debt. Debts enlist self-centered emotions to manipulate you. Fact: You cannot trust your feelings! They are part of your sinful nature. You are not owed anything in this life, you are called only to love God and know Him! These debts invite what comes next.
2. Does self-pity drive your emotions? Do you hear?
“I should not be treated this way!”
“They should know better!”
“This is so unfair!”
If you answered “no”, you are passing, go to question three.
If you answered “yes”, self-pity is the jailer that puts you into a cell of bondage with the tormentors of bitterness, resentment, frustration, and anger. The key to this is to recognize the sound of the jailer and quickly run away to safety with forgiveness. If you can quickly release your offender, you stand a better chance of returning to peace.
The storm of your offender’s behavior is not your dwelling place! It is a hurricane. It is your free will choice to join in the battle and swirl in the cyclone or choose to forgive and center yourself in the eye of the storm where there is peace.
Forgiveness is all about you, not them. You must not let your offender’s demons to define you. Your emotional state has nothing to do with whether you have forgiven them or not. Your emotions will catch up.
3. Does the past come up in every argument?
When you allow the past to come into a current issue, you open a portal to hell. All the demons who brought in that original debt of forgiveness now have access to you again. It is like a royalty check! That old offense is still paying the demons, and your debt load is increasing!
I have shared before a personal testimony of revisited and old offense. I was instantly slammed with all the fears surrounding it. When I recognized the door, I repented and forgave my offender. My quick response slammed that door shut.
These three simple questions score your report card.
Did you pass?
Forgiveness with our whole heart is a self-motivated choice not to let the behaviors of others define you. It is about keeping your heart focused on Jesus and walking in love. Thankfully, Jesus never said, “They don’t deserve my forgiveness, look at them, they aren’t even thankful for what I’ve done. Exchange my life for theirs? Not today God, they don’t deserve it.”
He did not say that, but we sure do.
You have a choice.
You can dine at the table set before you in the presence of your enemies with your head anointed with joy, or you can become the food source of demons at the other table. They are salivating as their knives dig in with bitterness.
Where do you choose to sit? Is that debt worth your identity?
If past offenses are causing you to stumble continually, then seek out deliverance. God is jealous for your whole heart!
*More Ways to Enjoy This Post*
Get all of our popular videos, podcasts, presentations, and guides in one place.
